Martin Griff/The TimesEwing Post 414's Cody Hughes, shown in this file photo, had a stellar game on the mound to keep his team undefeated.

EWING — Cody Hughes was probably wondering just when he was going to get his first start for Ewing Post 314. His answer came last night when the big righty was handed the ball by manger Jon Conant, and Hughes made the most of it.

He pitched seven innings, allowing one unearned run, but needed teammate Darren Basich’s two-run double in the top of the eighth inning to earn a 3-1 win for Ewing in a battle of MCALL unbeatens.

Hughes threw 106 pitches, surrendered four hits and walked six. He gave way to Josh Sharik in the bottom of the eighth, and the hard-throwing Sharik retired Hopewell Post 339 1-2-3 to preserve Ewing’s sweetest win of the season.

“This was my first start of the Legion season; I pitched one inning of relief against Lawrence, that’s all,” said Hughes. “I’ve been working hard every day to get ready. I’m glad I got the call tonight and, as it turned out, it was a great win over a great team.

“Their pitcher (Tim Wolf) I thought pitched well, but I was the lucky one tonight. I just feel great about winning this game: it’s a big win for our team.”

With the scored tied at 1-1 heading into the eighth, Ewing’s Justin Dempsey and Sharik reached base on two Hopewell errors. Evan Patrick’s sacrifice bunt advanced them to second and third.

Then it was Basich’s turn. On a 3-1 pitch from reliever Brian Jacobs, he got what he wanted and jumped all over it, sending Jacobs’ pitch into the gap in right-center field for the deciding runs.

“I hit the ball pretty well tonight,” said Basich, whose 3-for-4 night featured those two RBIs. “First of all, it was a big win for our team. We thought about this game because we came in 3-0 and they were 5-0; we definitely talked about it. We came out yesterday and we were working hard and did what we had to do to get ready for today, and it came out for us.

“On that last hit I faced him (Jacobs) before during school a couple of times, and he got me a few times. But I got up in the count 3-1 and I was looking for a pitch I could drive and I was able to get it. Every win’s a good win, but being able to take down the first place team is just a bonus.”

Ewing scored the game’s first run in the fourth inning. Keith Dearden doubled to right leading off and eventually came around to score on Sharik’s solid single to right.The way Hughes was pitching, it looked like one run might be enough. Hopewell tied the game in the fifth. Brodie Catherina reached on an error, and a walk to Kevin Bradley set up Alex Gasparro’s RBI single to left scoring Catherina.

“That was a great game, and Cody pitched very well; he was awesome,” said a jubilant Conant. “That was all I could ask out of the kid, seven innings; he gave it all he got. Plus, he shouldn’t have even given up that one (unearned) run.

“Darren got the big hit in the last inning, but he was hot tonight. I think he was like 3-for-3 or 3-for-4, something like that. For our team it’s a good win for us because they’re the top dog right now. For us, we’re taking baby steps. But it’s a good win and Josh (Sharik) did a nice job coming in and shutting them down; couldn’t ask for anything better.”